I agree, it's a signal, but it's not an overall determiner.

An interesting counterpoint is AirBNB spamming Craigslist in their early days.

Another counterpoint is Zynga and their 'scamville'.

With AirBNB, I think all is forgiven - great company thru and thru... one might think it was part of their hustle? With Zynga that DNA was perhaps indicative of something that destined to be very pump and dump.

I hate it, but sometimes a little 'cheating' during a growth phase can make or break the success of a company.